Another must hear broadcast by our friends at Radio Free Radnorshire. In order to hear Spreaker properly, you have to do all sorts of technical buggering about. We here at the RLF are too involved with the campaign to end the hegemony of Powys to learn how to do this properly, but one of our supporters links to it via his blog here, and you can also follow the station by clicking on the link on our Comrades blog roll. It’s mostly pop music, but it is free, Radnorian, and they do have a go at Powys from time to time…

At this weekend’s historic meeting of the RLF, it was decided to declare Radnorshire ‘Nuclear-Free’.

Older Friends of the RLF will recall that back in the Eighties, lots of ‘loony left’ councils declared themselves nuclear-free, to the great hilarity of the fuck-nut Capitalist scumbags who run the world, who knew that they could do what they like anyway.

But we at the RLF think the fuck-nut Capitalist scumbags and their lickspittle apologists have had their day.

Powys County Council have earmarked £2.8 million of our money to appeal against the construction of wind farms in Montgomeryshire. Imagine what could have been done with that money. For example, rather than seeing Kayes castings factory in Preteigne close, they might have invested that money in developing and manufacturing renewable energy solutions. In the census of 2001, reproduced on the Powys website, 25% of Presteigne’s population were recorded as working in manufacturing. We dread to think what that percentage is now. Powys are happy to let Radnorshire de-populate and die.

Powys did nothing to prevent mass unemployment, but instead have chosen to spend our money on climate-change denial and short-termism. County Councillor Myfanwy Alexander has taken a lead in defending an out-dated and ignorant view of aesthetic considerations of the countryside over employment, energy security, the undoubted benefits that renewable energy bring to small rural communities, and the fact that humankind needs to act now in the face of anthropogenic climate change.

Imagination, creativity or intelligent thinking are not Powys County Council’s strong points. In fact, their only strong point is the use of fear to defend their own interests, and the interests of their friends. Of course most people are scared by bullies with £2.8 million to spend on lawyers.

In declaring Radnorshire a Nuclear-Free Zone, we declare our opposition to Powys County Council’s desicion to spend almost three million pounds defending the prospects of a handful of County Councillors.